SELF-EFFICACY-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD FOR STRATEGIC SELF-REGULATION OF RUSSIAN AT THE NOVICE LEVEL

Abstract

The purpose of the present research is to investigate novice students’ strategic self-regulated learning of Russian as a foreign language and the role of the proposed self-efficacy-based instructional method in fostering the students’ strategic self-regulated language learning. Developing self-regulated skills in foreign language learners is an endeavor that leads to better control over personal goals, goal-achieving strategies, self-reflection, self-efficacy, and eventually performance (Zimmerman, 1990). Acquiring and developing strategies for better self-regulation in the process of a foreign language learning is viewed through the lenses of Oxford’s (2011) Strategic Self-Regulation framework (S²R). The framework outlines certain metastrategies that help regulate the cognitive, affective, and sociocultural-interactive dimensions of foreign language learning. In the present study, S²R is used as a conceptual model for analyzing the studying techniques of higher and lower self-regulated students of Russian at the novice level. A learner’s sense of self-efficacy plays an important role in the amount of effort the learner puts into studying and regulating the approaches to studying (Bandura, 1997). Thus, the proposed self-efficacy-based instructional method aims to foster the students’ planning, goal setting, effort management, monitoring, and self-evaluating throughout the language learning process. The study employs the sequential exploratory mixed-methods design that incorporates a quantitative phase for identifying higher and lower self-regulated students and a qualitative phase for investigating their approaches to studying Russian at the novice level and their perceptions of the proposed instructional method. The findings demonstrate that the higher self-regulated students rely more on metacognitive strategies whereas the lower self-regulated students mostly employ cognitive strategies; both groups of students expressed positive attitudes toward the proposed instructional method that helped them become more metacognitively aware in the learning process and reduced anxiety as they felt more confident in their content knowledge and language skills.